6/27/2006 @ 6:00AM

The Next 50 Years

As we reflect upon the 50-year triumph of the Interstate Highway era, the pivotal question is not how to get more money so that we can keep doing what we have done since President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s time. The question is how to develop a modern approach to ensure mobility for future generations of Americans.

I am convinced that a big part of the answer is to involve the private sector more fully–not just as a vendor or a financier, but as a partner in the funding, management and expansion of our transportation infrastructure.

From Asia to Australia to Europe and Latin America, the private sector has been driving the future of infrastructure with great success for many years. Pairing public infrastructure with private investment is a burgeoning trend here in the United States as well. Just in the last 12 months, several investment banks in New York have begun forming infrastructure funds to invest in U.S. transportation assets.

Indiana entered into one of the largest transportation infrastructure contracts in American history when it agreed to lease the Indiana Tollway to a private business for 75 years. At the same time, Texas, Virginia and other states are moving aggressively to expand major parts of their highway systems, relying extensively on private capital.

Aside from the enormous pool of private capital that is available to invest in highways and other transportation assets, other benefits are equally important. They include incentives for innovation, better budgeting, faster project delivery and improved management of new and existing transportation facilities.

At the federal level, the Bush administration is working with Congress to remove roadblocks to private investment. In fact, the surface transportation legislation signed last August by President Bush embraces an enhanced role for the private sector in the management and expansion of our transportation network. For example, it allows private businesses to receive the same tax-exempt benefits that the public sector receives when constructing a public highway. The law also expands existing federal credit programs that will allow for more efficient financing of large-scale projects.

The growing strains on our transportation systems point to the urgent need to develop new approaches. Technology must also play a critical role in the highways of the future.

Electronic toll collection, for instance, has completely rewritten the book on toll roads. For instance, the E-ZPass system saves travelers on the New Jersey Turnpike an estimated 2.1 million hours of travel time and 1.2 million gallons of fuel each year.

These advances are just the beginning. Given the importance of our roads to daily life in America, we must continue to work together to explore how we can build roads that open faster, require less repair later and give us safer, smoother rides at less cost.

As he launched the Interstate Highway System half a century ago, President Eisenhower described it as “a journey, not a destination.” The golden anniversary of the Interstate is a time to appreciate the vision that has given us a road system that is the envy of the world. It is also time to commit ourselves to being similarly forward-looking in building the transportation network that will keep Americans moving ahead well into the future.